Product Description

Shepherd's Notes give easy access to the Bible - one book at a time. They are not meant to be a substitute for the biblical text; rather, they are study guides intended to help you explore the wisdom of Scriptures in personal or group study. Shepherd's Notes guide you through both the main themes of each book of the Bible and illuminate details through commentary and reference notes. Historical and cultural background information brings the Bible into sharper focus. Six different icons, used throughout the series, call your attention to historical-cultural information, Old and New Testament references, word pictures, unit summaries, and personal application for everyday life.

Publisher's Description

You grew up using the well known black and yellow striped Cliff's Notes to help you grasp everything from great literary works to algebra. Unfortunately, what "Cliff" forgot was the greatest literary work in history: the complete Holy Bible. Enjoy the ease of understanding the Bible like never before, book by book. Shepherd's notes helps reader's learn about the inspired authors of the Bible books and when and where they were first penned. Each Bible book is revealed in simple understandable steps that outline and underscore the focal points and personalities of the biblical text. You'll look to these unique books for their use in Bible studies, teaching, personal devotions and even in sermon preperation! Christian and home schools will find Shepherd's Notes an invaluable resource.

I must admit that I was hesitant to get this book in the Shepherd's Notes series, because they are too surface (not really developing the passage. I know that they are limited to a certain number of pages). Yet, I was surprised at how well the author expounded on the book of 1 John! You can basically take what he wrote, and use it for your Sunday school or small group (which I did. It saved me a lot of research time). This is the only reason for the 5-star.

I really wish the author had more pages to develop 2 John and 3 John like he did 1 John. He is a great expositor, and to cut him short like that was not good. They should had committed another book to 2 and 3 John.

Although I do not know the philosophy behind the Shepherd's Notes series, I would propose to focus on a few chapters or divisions so that their authors can do what they do best--expound the Word (not suggesting for a commentary; just something that covers the chapter or division at hand). By the way, their outlines are great--just need to deal with verses in smaller chunks.

Also, I really wish this author would had written more books in this series. He only wrote this one.